Amazon’s New Echo Spot Smart Alarm Clock Drops to Just $45 Ahead of October Prime Days
Amazon’s October Prime Day sale is just a few days from now, but that hasn’t stopped the company from already dropping prices on some of its most popular devices. Back in July, Amazon announced a new generation of its Echo Spot smart alarm clock. Available in black, glacier white and ocean blue, it lists for $80, but right now you can get one for just $45, a $35 savings. That price matches the best we’ve seen.
Like its predecessor, the new Echo Spot has a touchscreen and displays a variety of custom-designed clock faces. It’s also Alexa-enabled, allowing you to use your voice to set alarms, access the weather, play music tracks and issue commands to all of your Alexa smart home products. Amazon says the new Echo Spot “builds on what our customers loved most about the original product — like the semi-spherical shape, access to Alexa, and the compact and vibrant display — and reimagines it with even better visuals and improved audio quality.”
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When the original Echo Spot came out in 2017, former CNET editor Ry Crist described it as “the love child of Amazon’s most expensive Echo gadget, the touchscreen-equipped Echo Show, and its least expensive Alexa gadget, the pint-sized Echo Dot.” With a launching price of $130, the original had its plusses but wasn’t quite as compelling as we’d hoped.
The new Echo Spot’s screen is more of a semicircle, with a 1.73-inch speaker below it. It does not have an integrated camera like the original for making video calls.
The screen on the new Echo Spot has a bigger diameter with no bezel around it. But it’s more of a semicircle rather than the fully circular screen found on the original. This newer version has a 1.73-inch front-firing directional speaker that Amazon says offers upgraded sound from the original, with “clear vocals and deep bass.” It can also easily connect with all of your household smart devices like smart doorbells, lights and more.
You can ask Alexa to set an alarm for you.
Unlike Amazon’s Echo Show products, the screen is designed to display rudimentary animations, not full-scale video. Also, there’s no integrated camera, so you can’t make video calls (the original had a camera). That’s probably a good thing if you’re concerned about privacy issues.
On that front, like other Alexa-enabled products, Amazon says the new Echo Spot is equipped with privacy controls, including a mic-off button, the ability to view and delete your voice recordings, and more.
If you’re in the market for other Amazon devices, check out this offer on the Echo and smart bulb bundle. Or scope the great deal on Amazon’s Fire HD right now.
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